Required Practicals - Acceleration Flashcards
What equipment do we use?
A toy car attached to a piece of string.
The string is looped around a pulley.
At the other end of the string is a 100g mass.
A timer.
Chalk lines at equal intervals along the desk lile every 10cm.
What are we investigating in the acceleration practical?
How varying the force affects the acceleration of an object of constant mass.
How varying the mass of an object affects the acceleration produced by a constant force.
What will the weight of the mass do?
Provide the force acting on the toy car.
How do we carry out the investigation?
Hold the toy car at the starting point.
When ready, let go of the car.
The car will accelerate along the bench due to a resultant force acting upon it.
Record the time that the car passes each distance marker.
Repeat the experiment several times but in each case reduce the mass at the end of the string.
What is difficult about recording time? How can we fix this?
If the caf moves very quickly it may be difficult to get an accurate result.
Record the experiment on a mobile phone or camera. Play the video back and record times accurately.
How is the mass of the object counted?
As the car, the string and the mass as they are all attached to each other.
What do we do if we remove mass from the end of the string?
Transfer the mass onto the toy car to keep overall mass constant.
What is Newton’s Second Law of motion?
The acceleration of an object is proportional to the force applied.
What should be the result of the practical?
The acceleration of the toy car should be proportional to the mass on the end of the string.
How do we investigate how varying the mass of the object affects the acceleration produced by a constant force?
Keep the force constant (use the same mass at the end of the string).
Attach a mass to the toy car, e.g. 200g.
Record the car as it accelerates along the bench.
Repeat the experiment increasing the mass attached to the toy car.
What does Newton’s Second Law say about the relationship between acceleration and mass?
Acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
What should be the result of the changing mass?
As we increase the mass of the toy car, acceleration decreases.
